Boosting Our Connectivity with Our Own Next-Gen Optical Network

Providing users with fast and reliable connectivity is the backbone of modern work.

Microsoft Digital Employee Experience, the organization that powers, protects, and transforms the company, recently deployed a robust next-generation optical network that offers the company more bandwidth on less fiber for a lower operational cost than leasing from traditional carriers.

“Our consumption costs and needs for employees keeps going up, especially at our company headquarters,” says Ragini Singh, a principal group engineering manager for Hybrid Cloud and Connectivity Services, a division within Microsoft Digital Employee Experience that provides connectivity services for the company. “We were purchasing a lot of network connectivity from third parties and reached a point where we saw an opportunity to emulate the high-density traffic of Azure.”

By moving away from leasing circuits from traditional carriers, Microsoft is able to better fulfill the connectivity requirements of its employees while also lowering costs. In less than two years, nearly $2 million in annual savings gained from owning our own optical network have already covered the cost of the expenditure. The next-generation optical network also raises the ceiling as to what is possible, both in terms of speeds and automation.

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When to build, when to buy

Previously, keeping Puget Sound—what we call our headquarters campus in Redmond, Washington—connected with high-density bandwidth meant spending millions annually with third-party carriers in the region. All of the equipment, circuits, nodes, and fiber would be provided and managed by the vendor, and our employees, labs, and datacenters would receive the connectivity required for productivity.

As our appetite for fast and reliable connectivity grew, so did the cost of procuring it from carriers.

“Increasing our bandwidth load used to be a process,” Singh says. “We had to negotiate for 6 to 12 months and then be bound by a contract. Changing that would necessitate further negotiations.”

By evaluating need, especially as our labs and traffic requirements grow, compared to the cost of leasing, we can now identify opportunities to build and take ownership of next-generation optical networks.

Puget Sound is one of the first campuses to experience this optical network transformation. Instead of being locked into contracts with recurring costs, including circuit fees, node fees, and management fees, we’re doing it in-house.

That means buying, installing, and managing all the gear; designing the framework; and creating the services to support the optical network.

The decision not only addresses the challenges posed by an aging legacy system but meets our demand for fast and reliable high-speed connectivity. Savings netted by removing recurring operational costs have already paid for the initial expenditure.

Controlling our own destiny

Building our own infrastructure does more than increase bandwidth and reduce costs, it also allows us to have more control and visibility over our optical networks. The Managed Control Path, deployed within Microsoft Azure, empowers us to manage, automate, and troubleshoot our optical network.

These devices have a 25-year lifespan; we don’t have to replace them for a long time. Our operational and troubleshooting tools are incredibly efficient. We’ve never had this level of visibility before.

—Blaine Martin, principal engineering manager, Hybrid Core Network Services, Microsoft Digital Employee Experience

If a circuit goes down, we can deal with it immediately instead of waiting for outside entities to respond. Automation can identify breaks with precision, update nodes simultaneously, and perform important tasks, like password rotations.

None of this was possible with vendor carriers.

“These devices have a 25-year lifespan; we don’t have to replace them for a long time,” says Blaine Martin, a principal engineering manager with Hybrid Core Network Services, the team within Microsoft Digital Employee Experience responsible for deploying the new optical network. “Our operational and troubleshooting tools are incredibly efficient. We’ve never had this level of visibility before.”

The team can also provision more bandwidth at an accelerated speed without having to renegotiate contracts or research performance and business metrics. What used to take months can now be completed in a day. As the architects, owners, and operators of the optical network, the team can activate new fiber lines immediately. Delivering new circuits to users can be done without engaging with finance or negotiating with carriers.

This means users get the connectivity they need faster than ever.

We have the ability to handle 400 Gbps of single client connections and beyond. This ensures that the optical network can meet the increasing demands for bandwidth, accommodating the evolving needs of Microsoft and its employees.

—Vinoth Elangovan, senior network engineer, Hybrid Core Network Services

Vinoth Elangovan led the effort to design and implement our optical network here at Microsoft.

The future of connectivity at Microsoft

Puget Sound’s new optical network offers our users fast and efficient connectivity at a significantly reduced cost, but it also makes the campus future ready. The new infrastructure can support incredibly high-speed traffic and was designed with scalability in mind.

“We have the ability to handle 400 Gbps of single client connections and beyond,” says Vinoth Elangovan, a senior network engineer from Hybrid Core Network Services. “This ensures that the optical network can meet the increasing demands for bandwidth, accommodating the evolving needs of Microsoft and its employees.”

The optical network also improves our security posture. In utilizing our own circuits, Microsoft eliminates the reliance on third-party carriers, ultimately reducing the risks associated with external providers.

Microsoft will continue to seek out opportunities to improve the employee experience.

Optical network transformation accelerates our ability to operate efficiently. We were tied down before. Labs had bottlenecks, but we’ve increased capacity tenfold. There has been lots of productivity gains because of that and teams can now focus on growing.

—Ragini Singh, principal group engineering manager, Hybrid Cloud and Connectivity Services

“There are times when high operational expenses necessitates building your own network,” Martin says. “What we spend once now comes back to us in savings. After that, it’s all gains.”

What started in Puget Sound is now being replicated across other Microsoft campuses, including Silicon Valley and Phoenix, with plans to expand to campuses internationally.

“Optical network transformation accelerates our ability to operate efficiently,” Singh says. “We were tied down before. Labs had bottlenecks, but we’ve increased capacity tenfold. There has been lots of productivity gains because of that and teams can now focus on growing.”

If you can justify the initial expenditures, having an optical network can enable companies to scale at higher rates and operate at lower costs.
Build your optical network with redundancy in mind. This will provide business continuity during a failure while any issues are being resolved.
Take the time to test operational systems and ensure that the right automations trigger ticket actions.
The increased visibility of an optical network centralizes your global traffic, allowing you to see how signals traverse. This allows you to implement other efficiencies, especially for long-haul amplification.

Learn about and start exploring how to make similar investments and find similar investments at your company by exploring our Microsoft Azure Virtual Network technology. You’ll need a subscription to Microsoft Azure—go here to sign up for a free trial.